Anna Lydia Svalastog

The communication aspects of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Western Africa--do we need to counter one, two, or many epidemics?

The communication aspects of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Western Africa – do we need to counter one, two, or many epidemics?

Distortion, confusion, and impasses: could a public dialogue within Knowledge Landscapes contribute to better communication and understanding of innovative knowledge?

In contrast to former discussions focusing on dialogue between science, policy makers, and the public, the aim of this paper was to focus on the broader com-municative situation related to the inno ...

Representing life as opposed to being: the bio-objectification process of the HeLa cells and its relation to personalized medicine

The immortal HeLa cells case is an intriguing example of bio-objectification processes with great scientific, social, and symbolic impacts. These cells generate questions about representation, significance, and value of the exceptional, variety, individuality, and property. Of frightening (a lethal cancer) and emarginated (a black, poor woman) origins, with their ability to “contaminate” cultures and to “spread” into spaces for becoming of extraordinary value for human knowledge, well-being, and economy advancements, HeLa cells have represented humanity, and emphasized the importance of individual as a core concept of the personalized medicine. Starting from the process leading from HeLa “cells” to HeLa “bio-objects,” we focus on their importance as high quality bio-specimen. We discuss the tension between phenomenological characteristic of fundamental biological research and the variety of material and methodologies in epidemiology and personalized medicine. The emerging methodologies and societal changes reflect present EU policies and lead toward a new paradigm of science.

The value of bio-objects and policy discourses in Europe

What is the value of bio-objects? In a series of texts (primarily published in the Croatian Medical Journal) new entities, identified and/or produced by new technology, have been analytically defined as bio-objects. Bio-objects derive from innovative knowledge, they are generated through a “bio-objectification” process, and continuously negotiated in the intersection of science, politics, and society (1,2). Identification and construction of bio-objects are conducted in a variety of practices and discourses inside and outside of scientific laboratories, and configured in science, policy, and media. Information-over-loaded knowledge landscapes (KL) are in turn characterized by open-source distribution, and are both depoliticizing and (re-)politicizing the content and function of bio-objects (3,4). In this article, the focus is on the value of bio-objects, and includes an inquiry into the history of the changeable value of bio-objects as a scientific and economic project in Europe.

Concepts and definitions of health and health-related values in the knowledge landscapes of the digital society

The knowledge landscapes (http://knowledge-landscapes. hiim.hr/) represent multidimensional environments, which individuals encounter when searching for knowledge, particularly, knowledge related to health (1,2). In digital society, knowledge is well distributed virtually and online. A substantial fraction of knowledge landscapes is also located in the digital environment. Both health and knowledge need to be understood today as a part of the digital society. It is important to estimate the impact that digital society has on knowledge landscapes and on health. This is especially relevant in relation to the 90th anniversary of Zagreb Andrija Štampar School of Public Health and the work of its founder, Andrija Štampar, with ongoing ambition of the School to be on the leading edge of public health understanding in the present society (3). Hence, this article deals with the concepts of health in relation to the present digital environment.

Hollywood heroes in high tech risk societies: modern fairy tales and emerging technologies

Science, research and emerging technologies often play a key role in many modern action movies. In this contribution we suggest to use genre analysis of folk narratives as an innovative and useful tool for understanding science and technology in action movies. In this contribution we outline our approach using illustrative examples and detail how understanding action movies as modern fairy tales can benefit the study of science, research and technology in popular culture. Abstract In this contribution we outline our approach using illustrative examples and detail how understanding action movies as modern fairy tales can benefit the study of science, research and technology in popular culture. In this text we propose that the genre analysis of folk narrative is a useful analytical tool for the interpretation and understanding of the role of science and research in present Hollywood action movies. In particular three films 1 are discussed; Mission Impossible II (MI II, 2000), Live free or die hard (the fourth Die Hard film, 2007), and Tomorrow never dies (the James Bond film of 1997). These films caught our attention because they deal with key challenges in present high tech high risk societies, often referred to by terms such as globalization, networked knowledge society etc. The MI II film from the year 2000 has the dual use of biotechnology as a key theme, roughly coinciding with academic discussions of the theme. The same can be said about the James Bond films focus on media manipulation of political conflicts in networked society, and also the focus of the Die Hard film on how digitalized society becomes vulnerable for terrorist attacks. It is of special interest to us how these Hollywood productions elaborate key themes in present academic and political discussions on ethics and governance. This apparent consensus, or at

When communicating health-related knowledge, beware of the black holes of the knowledge landscapes geography

Health-related knowledge is a complicated mixture of levels and dimensions including molecular research, clinical research, well established practices, new technologies and treatments, specialized and individualized life-style recommendations, and quality of life factors. As it concerns everything from microbiology to social well-being, this complex landscape of knowledge is difficult to grasp even by medical professionals. Despite its complexity, the relevance of this knowledge is obvious for the individuals, their families, their professional environment, and the society as a whole. Understanding health-related knowledge is a prerequisite for patient-centered medicine, and being acquainted with the newest developments can imply better health, higher quality of life, and better medical treatment (1,2).

Navigating knowledge landscapes: on health, science, communication, media, and society

Today patients are confronted with an increase in complexity of health-related information, including that on medical procedures, data interpretation, and multifaceted therapeutic strategies. At the same time, there is a justified need to simplify information in order to enable patients to make decisions about themselves (1). The patient is indeed the only one in the system who possesses all the information and insights into her/his health and biomedical biography. Health related issues are important not only to patients, but to all citizens who take health into consideration when making everyday lifestyle decisions, such as choice of diet, or physical or social activities. As we live in a society full of opportunities, navigating wisely through them, and making educated decisions, clearly requires more steps than just declaratively empowering the patient by the medical system. An important prerequisite for patient-centered medicine is ensuring that patients can find and make use of high-quality knowledge about science and biomedicine.

Epigenetics, society, and bio-objects

The molecular account of the environmental that epigenetics offers bestow it with paramount importance for biomedical perspective of health and disease and for social sciences perspective on human interactions and well-being. It offers new prospects for interventions to shape the health of both individuals and populations, and invokes its own ethical, legal, and social implications. We here propose treatment of the relation between epigenetics and society through the framework of bio-objectification. After discussing how epigenetic information becomes part of particular bio-identification and bio-objectification processes, we then propose the bio-objectification framework as a fruitful conceptual framework for the analysis of dynamic research and responsive regulatory landscape of this biotechnology.